Question: The equation of an ellipse $E$ is $\dfrac{y^2}{49}+\dfrac {(x-5)^{2}}{64} = 1$. What are its center $(h, k)$ and its major and minor radius?
Answer: The equation of an ellipse with center $(h, k)$ is $ \dfrac{(x - h)^2}{a^2} + \dfrac{(y - k)^2}{b^2} = 1$ We can rewrite the given equation as $\dfrac{(x - 5)^2}{64} + \dfrac{(y - 0)^2}{49} = 1 $ Thus, the center $(h, k) = (5, 0)$ $64$ is bigger than $49$ so the major radius is $\sqrt{64} = 8$ and the minor radius is $\sqrt{49} = 7$.